Usage of the Internet is becoming increasingly popular. However, as the Internet has gained in popularity, the number of files and Web sites which can be accessed through the Internet has also increased dramatically. This makes it difficult for users to sift through all of the information available on the Internet to locate the information of interest to them. In other words, as more files and Web sites become available on the Internet, it becomes increasingly difficult to locate the files and Web sites which are of interest to the user.
In addition, the files, Web sites, and other services offered on the Internet are continuously changing. This means that it is necessary to periodically review and update the files and Web sites a user may have previously located and accessed on the Internet to keep abreast of these changes.
Typically, a user accesses the Internet from the user's system, which will be referred to as the client computer system. The client computer system generally runs a Web browser which includes software that enables the client computer system to communicate with Web servers on the Internet.
In most cases, a user on the Internet will send a request from the user's client computer to a Web server computer that is located on the Internet. The request identifies a file on the Web server that the user wishes to access. In response to the request from the user, the Web server returns a copy of the file which the user has requested.
In order to assist users in locating information on the Internet that is of interest to them, search engines have been provided to search for key words in files stored on Web servers located on the Internet. Search engines that search across many files on Web sites are sometimes referred to as “spiders”. The search engines or spiders gather information regarding the files and store this information in databases that users can search according to key words. Examples of these types of search engines are Lycos and Excite.
However, in order to effectively and efficiently use a search engine it is necessary to enter proper queries into the search engine. For example, if the queries are too narrow, the search may not locate all of the Web pages, which are referred to as “hits”, in which the user is interested. Likewise, if the queries are too broad, the search will return a large number of files and Web pages. It is clear that if a large number of hits are returned, then files and Web pages of interest to the user may be buried in a large number of hits of no interest to the user.
Moreover, the Internet is continuously changing. This is the case at least because new files and Web sites are becoming available on the Internet on a daily basis. Furthermore, changes are occurring to existing files and Web sites at an ever-increasing rate. It is clear that the information contained in the files or Web servers on the Internet can change daily or even hourly in some cases. As such, it is important that users have a method and system which can efficiently and effectively locate relevant files and Web sites, not only in the present, but in the future as well.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method and system to permit users to efficiently and effectively locate files and Web sites on the Internet. Moreover, there is a need for a system and method that allows users to obtain information of interest without necessarily developing search criteria.